For a guy who vowed during the 2014 municipal election to improve Winnipeg Transit and make it a more reliable service, Mayor Brian Bowman sure seems to be going out of his way to discourage Winnipeggers from taking the bus.

Bowman pledged in 2014 to make Transit a priority by beefing up the service and making it a more attractive option to commute to work, school or to major events.

But since he’s become mayor, very little — if anything — has been done to improve Transit. From 2014 to 2016, the number of annual bus hours operated was largely unchanged from 1.525 million to 1.542 million – a 1% increase, according to Transit figures. The number of bus kilometres operated during that period was virtually flat, going from 29.764 million to 29.979 million, a 0.7% change. The number of routes remained the same at 93. And the number of bus stops actually fell to 5,084 from 5,176.

Which is probably ridership is plummeting under Bowman’s watch and it’s the first time in years. The number of people taking the bus dropped 2.7% in 2016 compared to 2014, according to Transit. And so far this year, weekday ridership is down 9% compared to 2015, Transit revealed in October.

The main reason for the decline is that Transit failed to expand its capacity when ridership was growing. Ridership was growing at a steady pace prior to 2014 when it peaked at nearly 49.9 million rides. However, instead of expanding capacity to accommodate the growth in demand, Transit was focused almost entirely on building Bus Rapid Transit, which simply replaced existing buses and did nothing to improve travel speed or expand capacity.

Which means buses became overcrowded, more buses were bypassing bus stops because they were filled to capacity and the service became less reliable. That’s when ridership began to fall. That was confirmed by then-Transit director Dave Wardrop who warned of the impending doom at a March 2015 committee meeting, saying “dark clouds” were on the horizon because Transit couldn’t keep up with demand.

The decline in ridership has caused a revenue problem for Transit. The city is budgeting a $6.2-million decline in passenger revenue for 2018 because fewer people are taking the bus. It’s the main reason Bowman is now jacking up fares by 25 cents a ride, or $10 for a full-fare monthly bus pass. It’s due to poor planning and incompetence.

Instead of taking responsibility for that, though, Bowman has chosen to blame the province, claiming wrongly that the Pallister government has cut Transit funding by $10 million. It’s a spurious claim that has no basis in reality.

In fact, the province provided Transit with $40.1 million in funding in 2017, the same as in 2016, which represents a 21% increase over 2012. And the province has yet to announce funding levels for 2018.

Meanwhile, Bowman’s decision to jack up fares will only make the situation worse. It will cause Transit to become less affordable for low-income Winnipeggers and less attractive generally for people to take the bus, putting even more downward pressure on ridership and passenger revenue.

There are no plans to expand Transit capacity or to improve the frequency of buses. Other than a plan to put WiFi on some buses, which will do nothing to improve ridership, Bowman has no plans whatsoever to improve the system.

The truth is, some of his plans will make Transit worse. For example, Bowman wants to allow taxi drivers to use diamond lanes during rush-hour traffic. It’s one of the most idiotic ideas he’s come up with since becoming mayor. That would only slow Transit buses down further and make it even less reliable during peak periods. Besides, why should taxis, who typically only have one passenger in their vehicles – just like any other single-passenger vehicle – have priority access to diamond lanes? It’s ridiculous and it underscores Bowman’s poor overall judgment.

And then there’s Bowman’s plan to open Portage and Main to pedestrians, which a consultant’s report has found would substantially reduce Transit travel times. One more reason not to take the bus.

The former Transit director wasn’t kidding when he said there were “dark clouds” ahead for Transit. And the clouds are getting darker under Bowman’s watch.

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